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As part of the Closer to Zero Action Plan, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct an independent study to assess young children’s exposure to mercury from consuming seafood.

We have been monitoring the relationships between food processors and regulators for a number of years. Our attention to this topic started with the implementation of FSMA to watch the evolution of the FDA's enforcement posture, as well as inspection and sampling procedures related to the new requirements. Now that the FDA has resumed its regular in-person inspections, we asked processors: (1) whether they have had an inspection so far in 2022 and, if so, did FDA collect any samples; (2) now that processors are seeing inspectors again, do they still agree that FDA "educates before it regulates"; and (3) with their experiences from recent and previous inspections, what do processors wish that regulators understood better? This column presents answers from more than 300 food processors in every category on these and related regulatory questions. 

During foodborne illness outbreak investigations, public health and regulatory authorities collect three types of data to determine a common food consumed by ill people: epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory. State and local partners work with FDA to conduct traceback investigations and examine the food supply chain to determine the origin of the foods identified by the epidemiologic investigations. This article looks at the benefits of using incident command system (ICS) principles during emergency response coordination activities for foodborne illness outbreaks, with input from members of the FDA's CORE Network.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we talk with Kimberly (Kim) Livsey about the interworking of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) investigations of and responses to food safety incidents and foodborne illness outbreaks through the Incident Command System and Incident Management Teams (IMTs). Kim is a Senior Emergency Response Coordinator in FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs' Office of Human and Animal Food Operations who has led a number of IMTs, including for a recent, high-profile foodborne illness outbreak.

On October 27, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold an informational webinar discussing the new Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods program.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a chance to withdraw the agency’s own decision to approve the fungicide difenoconazole for use on crops, agreeing with a lawsuit that states the agency needs to acquire more data on the fungicide’s toxicity.

Arkansas is the 29^th state to enter into a cooperative agreement that allows for Arkansas’ inspection program to inspect meat products produced for intrastate shipment under the State Meat and Poultry Inspection program.

A California U.S. District Court has upheld the authority of swine processing plant employees to pre-sort animals prior to slaughter as outlined in the Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection Rule under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New Swine Inspection Service.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Environmental Health (CDC’s NCEH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that formalizes a partnership between the agencies for the purpose of reducing foodborne illness hazards in food retail and foodservice establishments.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will continue providing flexibility to infant formula manufacturers under certain conditions in an effort to stabilize U.S. product supplies.